Having looked at the first execution in the District last week, it behooves me to follow up with the last one. It, too, took place on Capitol Hill; this time, in the D.C. jail. On July 11, 1953, George W. Cassels (pictured), a two-year veteran of the D.C. police, was waiting for a colleague when […]
While it has been over 60 years since the last execution in the District of Columbia, the first was done almost immediately after the founding of the city. The site? Just off Capitol Hill, and close enough for us to have a look at the deed today. James McGurk was nobody’s idea of a good […]
Two weeks ago, we looked at The Hole in the Wall, a bar on the Senate side of the Capitol. As it turned out, it did not last long past its initial exposure to the public. The death knell for The Hole in the Wall came just two short years after the Saulsbury incident. On […]
I wrote of the Experimental Model Basin last week, and mentioned some of the tests that had been done there for the Navy. The basin was, however, also used by private citizens, as we will see in today’s episode. Stopping a ship has always been a problem. Anyone who has ever tried to smoothly berth […]
Dear me, it is St. Patrick’s day this weekend– on a Saturday, no less. While I will likely stay home undercovers with some soda bread watching The Commitments, don’t let me keep you from sharing in the festivities with all your other Irish friends. Tonight is another Overbeck Lecture sponsored by the Capitol Hill Restoration […]